Key witness stand off, recurring delays stall forgotten Krejcir case

News2413 Mar 2019, 15:37 GMT+10

On the sixth floor of the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg, in a gangland murder case most have forgotten about, there's a slow-burning standoff unfolding and the delays are costing taxpayers millions of rands.

Beyond the bevy of armed guards and metal detectors, four men including Czech convict and former underworld boss Radovan Krejcir, are on trial for a 2013 hit on Lebanese drug dealer Sam Issa aka 'Black Sam' or 'Cripple Sam'. Issa was gunned down outside Bedford Centre early on a Saturday morning while driving his black Audi Q7.

Former Gauteng Hawks head Sibiya denies all Krejcir corruption claims

"I was interviewed by the Hawks in the Sandton police station. The Hawks called me in; I was coming back from Swaziland. I got this call from a colonel in the Hawks and I said, sure, no problem. He said he wanted to interview me about Issa, Krejcir and Mokoena. I went there and asked what they wanted.

"He said: 'Lucky Mokoena'. I said that Lucky Mokoena was a two-bit gangster so he's trying to implicate me. He's a hustler. He's got like 60 cases against him - drugs, theft - all sorts of shit. You'll always see him driving in a Ferrari with the best labels, but he scams. If you look at his cases they are either robbery or armed robbery or whatever."

Mokoena's allegations are to secure freedom

Krejcir's lawyer previously said they believe Mokoena is making these allegations to secure his own freedom. The accused deny the charges against them and are expected to call several witnesses in their defence.

However, that could mean that this trial will drag on for several years still. Prosecutors are also waiting to finalise this trial before they get going on another case involving a plot to assassinate Paul O'Sullivan and ex-policeman Nkosana 'Killer' Ximba in 2014.

Parallel to this is a separate process involving Krejcir's potential extradition to the Czech Republic.

Last year, the Kempton Park Magistrate's Court ruled that Krejcir could be extradited and now it is up to the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services to decide his fate.

Krejcir is currently serving a 35-year prison sentence after being convicted of attempted murder and kidnapping in 2015.

Ironically, this prolonged matter in courtroom 6E pales in comparison to the trial running in the courtroom just next door where Tigon accused Gary Porritt is facing more than 3 000 charges of fraud, racketeering and contraventions of the Income Tax Act, the Companies Act and the Stock Exchange Control Act. That case has been on the court roll since 2002 and is still rolling.